Divine Office Office of Readings

Feb 03, Invitatory for Tuesday of the 4th week of Ordinary Time

Lord, open my lips. — And my mouth will proclaim your praise. Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, our mighty God. Psalm 100 Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing for joy. Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, our mighty God. Know that he, the Lord, is God. He made us, we belong to him, we are his people, the sheep of his flock. Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, our mighty God. Go within his gates, giving thanks. Enter his courts with songs of praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, our mighty God. Indeed, how good is the Lord, eternal his merciful love. He is faithful from age to age. Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, our mighty God. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, our mighty God.

Feb 03, Office of Readings for Tuesday of the 4th week of Ordinary Time

Ribbon Placement: Liturgy of the Hours Vol. III: Ordinary: 651 Proper of Seasons: 149 Psalter: Tuesday, Week IV, 1165 Office of Readings for Tuesday in Ordinary Time God, come to my assistance. — Lord, make haste to help me. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia. HYMN O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home. Beneath the shadow of Your throne Your saints have dwelt secure; Sufficient is your arm alone, And our defense is sure. Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame, From everlasting you are God, To endless years the same. A thousand ages in your sight Are like an evening gone; Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun. Time, like an ever rolling stream, Bears all our lives away; They fly, forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day. O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be now our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home. 𝄞"O God, Our Help in Ages Past" by Melinda Kirigin-Voss [https://divineoffice.org/melinda-kirigin-voss/], Vince Clark • Musical Score [https://divineoffice.org/wp-content/uploads/O-God-Our-Help-in-Ages-Past.pdf] • Title: O God, Our Help in Ages Past; Text: Based on Psalm 90; Isaac Watts, 1674-1748, Psalms of David..., 1719, alt.; Tune: ST. ANNE, CM; later form of melody (rhythm adapted), attr. to William Croft, 1678-1727, A Supplement to the New Version of Psalms, 1708; Artist: Melinda Kirigin-Voss, Vince Clark; Copyright 2016 Surgeworks Inc. • Albums that contain this Hymn: Divine Office PSALMODY Ant. 1 Lord, let my cry come to you; do not hide your face from me. Psalm 102 The longings and prayers of an exile. God comforts us in all our troubles. (2 Cor. 1:4) I O Lord, listen to my prayer and let my cry for help reach you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear towards me and answer me quickly when I call. For my days are vanishing like smoke, my bones burn away like a fire. My heart is withered like the grass. I forget to eat my bread. I cry with all my strength and my skin clings to my bones. I have become like a pelican in the wilderness like an owl in desolate places. I lie awake and I moan like some lonely bird on a roof. All day long my foes revile me; those who hate me use my name as a curse. The bread I eat is ashes; my drink is mingled with tears. In your anger, Lord, and your fury you have lifted me up and thrown me down. My days are like a passing shadow and I wither away like the grass. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Ant. Lord, let my cry come to you; do not hide your face from me. Ant. 2 Be attentive, Lord, to the prayer of the helpless. II But you, O Lord, will endure for ever and your name from age to age. You will arise and have mercy on Zion: for this is the time to have mercy, (yes, the time appointed has come) for your servants love her very stones, are moved with pity even for her dust. The nations shall fear the name of the Lord and all the earth’s kings your glory, when the Lord shall build up Zion again and appear in all his glory. Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless; he will not despise their prayers. Let this be written for ages to come that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord; for the Lord leaned down from his sanctuary on high. He looked down from heaven to the earth that he might hear the groans of the prisoners and free those condemned to die. The sons of your servants shall dwell untroubled and their race shall endure before you that the name of the Lord may be proclaimed in Zion and his praise in the heart of Jerusalem, when peoples and kingdoms are gathered together to pay their homage to the Lord. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Ant. Be attentive, Lord, to the prayer of the helpless. Ant. 3 You, O Lord, established the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. III He has broken my strength in mid-course; he has shortened the days of my life. I say to God: “Do not take me away before my days are complete, you, whose days last from age to age. Long ago you founded the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish but you will remain. They will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like clothes that are changed. But you neither change, nor have an end.” Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Psalm-prayer Lord, you live in the hearts of your saints, and so have built up Zion. May you always show your greatness through their good works. Ant. You, O Lord, established the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell) A moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church. Listen, my people, to my teaching. — Give ear to the words I speak. READINGS First reading From the first letter to the Thessalonians 4:1-18 The holy life and the hope of the resurrection My brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, even as you learned from us how to conduct yourselves in a way pleasing to God—which you are indeed doing—so you must learn to make still greater progress. You know the instructions we gave you in the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you grow in holiness: that you abstain from immorality, each of you guarding his member in sanctity and honor, not in passionate desire as do the Gentiles who know not God; and that each refrain from overreaching or cheating his brother in the matter at hand; for the Lord is an avenger of all such things, as we once indicated to you by our testimony. God has not called us to immorality but to holiness; hence, whoever rejects these instructions rejects not man, but God who sends his Holy Spirit upon you. As regards brotherly love, there is no need for me to write you. God himself has taught you to love one another, and this you are doing with respect to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we exhort you to even greater progress, brothers. Make it a point of honor to remain at peace and attend to your own affairs. Work with your hands as we directed you to do, so that you will give good example to outsiders and want for nothing. We would have you be clear about those who sleep in death, brothers; otherwise you might yield to grief, like those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, God will bring forth with him from the dead those also who have fallen asleep believing in him. We say to you, as if the Lord himself had said it, that we who live, who survive until his coming, will in no way have an advantage over those who have fallen asleep. No, the Lord himself will come down from heaven at the word of command, at the sound of the archangel’s voice and God’s trumpet; and those who have died in Christ will rise first. Then we, the living, the survivors, will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thenceforth we shall be with the Lord unceasingly. Console one another with this message. RESPONSORY 1 Thessalonians 4:15; Mark 13:27; see Matthew 24:31 At the word of command, at the call of the archangel’s voice and the sound of God’s trumpet, the Lord himself will come down from heaven; — he will gather his elect from the four winds, and from the depths of the earth to the heights of heaven. When the Son of Man comes, he will send forth his angels with a mighty trumpet blast. — He will gather his elect from the four winds, and from the depths of the earth to the heights of heaven. Second reading From the treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, bishop In Christ are the first fruits of the resurrection The Word of God became man, the Son of God became the Son of Man, in order to unite man with himself and make him, by adoption, a son of God. Only by being united to one who is himself immune could we be preserved from corruption and death, and how else could this union have been achieved if he had not first become what we are? How else could what is corruptible and mortal in us have been swallowed up in his incorruptibility and immortality, to enable us to receive adoptive sonship? Therefore, the Son of God, our Lord, the Word of the Father, is also the son of man; he became the son of man by a human birth from Mary, a member of the human race. The Lord himself has given us a sign here below and in the heights of heaven, a sign that man did not ask for because he never dreamt that such a thing would be possible. A virgin was with a child and she bore a son who is called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” He came down to the earth here below in search of the sheep that was lost, the sheep that was in fact his own creature, and then ascended into the heights of heaven to offer to the Father and entrust to his care the human race that he had found again. The Lord himself became the firstfruits of the resurrection of mankind, and when its time of punishment for disobedience is over the rest of the body, to which the whole human race belongs, will rise from the grave as the head has done. By God’s aid it will grow and be strengthened in all its joints and ligaments, each member having its own proper place in the body. There are many rooms in the Father’s house because the body has many members. God bore with man patiently when he fell because he foresaw the victory that would be his through the Word. Weakness allowed strength its full play, and so revealed God’s kindness and great power. RESPONSORY 1 Corinthians 15:20, 22, 21 Christ has been raised to life; he is the firstfruits of the harvest when all the dead shall rise. — Just as in Adam all men die, so in Christ all men will be brought to life. Death came through a man and through a man the resurrection of the dead has also come. — Just as in Adam all men die, so in Christ all men will be brought to life. CONCLUDING PRAYER Grant us, Lord our God, that we may honor you with all our mind, and love everyone in truth of heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. — Amen. Acclamation (at least in the communal celebration) Let us praise the Lord. — And give him thanks.

Feb 05, Invitatory for Thursday of the 4th week of Ordinary Time

Lord, open my lips. — And my mouth will proclaim your praise. Ant. Come into the Lord’s presence singing for joy. Psalm 67 O God, be gracious and bless us and let your face shed its light upon us. So will your ways be known upon earth and all nations learn your saving help. Ant. Come into the Lord’s presence singing for joy. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. Ant. Come into the Lord’s presence singing for joy. Let the nations be glad and exult for you rule the world with justice. With fairness you rule the peoples, you guide the nations on earth. Ant. Come into the Lord’s presence singing for joy. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. Ant. Come into the Lord’s presence singing for joy. The earth has yielded its fruit for God, our God, has blessed us. May God still give us his blessing till the ends of the earth revere him. Ant. Come into the Lord’s presence singing for joy. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Ant. Come into the Lord’s presence singing for joy.

Feb 05, Office of Readings for Thursday of the 4th week of Ordinary Time

Ribbon Placement: Liturgy of the Hours Vol. III: Ordinary: 651 Proper of Seasons: 156 Psalter: Thursday, Week IV, 1210 Office of Readings for Thursday in Ordinary Time God, come to my assistance. — Lord, make haste to help me. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia. HYMN I am the Lord bringing light through the cloud Let the Heavens rain down righteousness Let earth open up, and salvation bear fruit; Let the Heavens rain down righteousness I am the Lord your God, beside me there is no other god I call you by your name let the Heavens rain down righteousness I the Lord have created it. I am the Lord bringing light through the cloud Let the Heavens rain down righteousness Let earth open up, and salvation bear fruit; Let the Heavens rain down righteousness I am the Lord your God, beside me there is no other god I call you by your name let the Heavens rain down righteousness I the Lord have created it. 𝄞"Isaiah 45" by Kathleen Lundquist [http://www.mystagogia.net] • Available for Purchase [https://music.apple.com/gh/artist/kathleen-lundquist/99063754] • Title: Isaiah 45; Lyrics adapted from Revised Standard Version of the Bible; Composer: Kathleen Lundquist; Artist: Kathleen Lundquist; Used with permission. • Albums that contain this Hymn: Sing of Mary PSALMODY Ant. 1 Their own strength could not save them; it was your strength and the light of your face. Psalm 44 The misfortunes of God’s people We triumph over all these things through him who loved us (Romans 8:37). I We heard with our own ears, O God, our fathers have told us the story of the things you did in their days, you yourself, in days long ago. To plant them you uprooted the nations: to let them spread you laid peoples low. No sword of their own won the land; no arm of their own brought them victory. It was your right hand, your arm and the light of your face: for you loved them. It is you, my king, my God, who granted victories to Jacob. Through you we beat down our foes; in your name we trampled our aggressors. For it was not in my bow that I trusted nor yet was I saved by my sword: it was you who saved us from our foes, it was you who put our foes to shame. All day long our boast was in God, and we praised your name without ceasing. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Ant. Their own strength could not save them; it was your strength and the light of your face. Ant. 2 Turn back to the Lord; he will not hide his face. II Yet now you have rejected us, disgraced us: you no longer go forth with our armies. You make us retreat from the foe and our enemies plunder us at will. You make us like sheep for the slaughter and scatter us among the nations. You sell your own people for nothing and make no profit by the sale. You make us the taunt of our neighbors, the laughing stock of all who are near. Among the nations, you make us a byword, among the peoples a thing of derision. All day long my disgrace is before me: my face is covered with shame at the voice of the taunter, the scoffer, at the sight of the foe and avenger. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Ant. Turn back to the Lord; he will not hide his face. Ant. 3 Arise, Lord, do not abandon us for ever. III This befell us though we had not forgotten you; though we had not been false to your covenant, though we had not withdrawn our hearts; though our feet had not strayed from your path. Yet you have crushed us in a place of sorrows and covered us with the shadow of death. Had we forgotten the name of our God or stretched our hands to another god would not God have found this out, he who knows the secrets of the heart? It is for you that we face death all day long and are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, O Lord, why do you sleep? Arise, do not reject us for ever! Why do you hide your face from us and forget our oppression and misery? For we are brought down low to the dust; our body lies prostrate on the earth. Stand up and come to our help! Redeem us because of your love! Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Psalm-prayer Lord Jesus, you foretold that we would share in the persecutions that brought you to a violent death. The Church formed at the cost of your precious blood is even now conformed to your Passion; may it be transformed, now and eternally, by the power of your resurrection. Ant. Arise, Lord, do not abandon us for ever. Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell) A moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church. Let the light of your face shine on me, O Lord. — Teach me your way of holiness. READINGS First reading The beginning of the second letter of the apostle Paul to the Thessalonians 1:1-12 Greeting and thanksgiving Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians who belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be yours from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is no more than right that we thank God unceasingly for you, brothers, because your faith grows apace and your mutual love increases; so much so that in God’s communities we can boast of your constancy and your faith in persecution and trial. You endure these as an expression of God’s just judgment, in order to be found worthy of his kingdom—it is for his kingdom you suffer—even if strict justice would require that God visit hardships on those who visit them on you. He will provide relief to you who are sorely tried, as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels; when “with flaming power he will inflict punishment on those who do not acknowledge God nor heed” the good news of our Lord Jesus. Such as these will suffer the penalty of eternal ruin apart from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his might on the Day when he comes, to be glorified in his holy ones and adored by all who have believed—for you already have our witness to you. We pray for you always that our God may make you worthy of his call, and fulfill by his power every honest intention and work of faith. In this way the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him, in accord with the gracious gift of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. RESPONSORY See 2 Thessalonians 1:10; Psalm 145:13 The Lord will come to be glorified in his holy ones — and to be adored by all who have believed in him. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds. — And to be adored by all who have believed in him. Second reading From the Catecheses by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, bishop Even in time of persecution let the cross be your joy The Catholic Church glories in every deed of Christ. Her supreme glory, however, is the cross. Well aware of this, Paul says: God forbid that I glory in anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! At Siloam, there was a sense of wonder, and rightly so. A man born blind recovered his sight. But of what importance is this, when there are so many blind people in the world? Lazarus rose from the dead, but even this affected only Lazarus. What of those countless numbers who have died because of their sins? Those five miraculous loaves fed five thousand people. Yet this is a small number compared to those all over the world who were starved by ignorance. After eighteen years a woman was freed from the bondage of Satan. But are we not all shackled by the chains of our own sins? For us all, however, the cross is the crown of victory! It has brought light to those blinded by ignorance. It has released those enslaved by sin. Indeed, it has redeemed the whole of mankind! Do not, then, be ashamed of the cross of Christ; rather, glory in it. Although it is a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles, the message of the cross is our salvation. Of course it is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it was not a mere man who died for us, but the Son of God, God made man. In the Mosaic law a sacrificial lamb banished the destroyer. But now it is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Will he not free us from our sins even more? The blood of an animal, a sheep, brought salvation. Will not the blood of the only-begotten Son bring us greater salvation? He was not killed by violence, he was not forced to give up his life. His was a willing sacrifice. Listen to his own words: I have the power to lay down my life and take it up again. Yes, he willingly submitted to his own passion. He took joy in his achievement; in his crown of victory he was glad and in the salvation of man he rejoiced. He did not blush at the cross for by it he was to save the world. No, it was not a lowly man who suffered but God incarnate. He entered the contest for the reward he would win by his patient endurance. Certainly in times of tranquility the cross should give you joy. But maintain the same faith in times of persecution. Otherwise you will be a friend of Jesus in times of peace and his enemy during war. Now you receive the forgiveness of your sins and the generous gift of grace from your king. When war comes, fight courageously for him. Jesus never sinned; yet he was crucified for you. Will you refuse to be crucified for him, who for your sake was nailed to the cross? You are not the one who gives the favor; you have received one first. For your sake he was crucified on Golgotha. Now you are returning his favor; you are fulfilling your debt to him. RESPONSORY 1 Corinthians 1:18, 23 To those who are on the way to destruction, the message of the cross is foolishness; — but we who are on the way to salvation see it as the proof of God’s power. We preach a crucified Christ: an obstacle to the Jews, sheer madness to the Gentiles. — But we who are on the way to salvation see it as the proof of God’s power. CONCLUDING PRAYER Grant us, Lord our God, that we may honor you with all our mind, and love everyone in truth of heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. — Amen. ACCLAMATION (at least in the communal celebration) Let us praise the Lord. — And give him thanks.

Feb 06, Invitatory for Friday of the 4th week of Ordinary Time

Lord, open my lips. — And my mouth will proclaim your praise. Ant. Come let us praise the Lord in whom is all our delight. Psalm 95 Come, let us sing to the Lord and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us. Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving and sing joyful songs to the Lord. Ant. Come let us praise the Lord in whom is all our delight. The Lord is God, the mighty God, the great king over all the gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the highest mountains as well He made the sea; it belongs to him, the dry land, too, for it was formed by his hands. Ant. Come let us praise the Lord in whom is all our delight. Come, then, let us bow down and worship, bending the knee before the Lord, our maker, For he is our God and we are his people, the flock he shepherds. Ant. Come let us praise the Lord in whom is all our delight. Today, listen to the voice of the Lord: Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did in the wilderness, when at Meriba and Massah they challenged me and provoked me, Although they had seen all of my works. Ant. Come let us praise the Lord in whom is all our delight. Forty years I endured that generation. I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray and they do not know my ways.” So I swore in my anger, “They shall not enter into my rest.” Ant. Come let us praise the Lord in whom is all our delight. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Ant. Come let us praise the Lord in whom is all our delight.